Be With Me

Chapter 41

In the morning, after family breakfast, James left for the studio and Rafaela took Liam to school. She took him until his classroom and kissed her kid on his cheek fiercely, ordering him to behave. Liam was a very skittish kid. Then she drove until the marine where she should meet Kelly for a coffee and a conversation. During the years, they put all their differences behind, and their friendship regained some of the strength it had before. Kelly was still dating Rob and she had what seemed a steady and passionate relationship. Rafaela knew that after she was done with college, she would marry Rob for sure.

"So Liam is in school?" Kelly asked while catching the morning sun.

"Yeah... he has his Father's Day recital today." Rafaela smiled. "I saw the rehearsals. It's going to be so cute, but you know how much of an irreverent kid he is. I hope he doesn't blow it in the middle." They both laughed at her remark. "Liam is so unpredictable... it's impossible to know what is going to happen. He surprises me and James so much sometimes."

"He's just so vivid and so skittish, he's really funny." Kelly commented but a really absent. Rafaela was oblivious to it as she talked about her son.

"He makes us laugh so much..." Rafaela added still laughing not noticing Kelly wasn't even smiling anymore. "Even if he blows it, I know James is going to love it. He spoils him so much..."

"He's so present in his things isn't he?" Kelly asked still serious.

She nodded. "He is. I can't complain about that. Whenever he has the time, he's all up to play with him and interact in his activities at school, though it's just kindergarten, but he loves to show up around as a kid's parent. You know him..." Then Rafaela sighed and the smile on her lips disappeared.

"He still hasn't changed his mind about having another baby?" Kelly asked as she knew Rafaela better than anyone else. There a smiled appeared on her lips. Her lips curved a little bit, but Rafaela didn't notice any of these little details.

"No..." She shook her head. "Even last night we talked about it and he's resisting so much. He doesn't want it; I can't force him."

"I don't understand... I mean, he's such a great father. I've seen him with Liam, he's so tender with him." Kelly commented enjoying the course of the conversation.

"He says we're still very young, that we can wait. It is a fact, I know that..."

"He's right on that part." Kelly defended him. "He's just 27 and you're 24, there's plenty of time to have kids for you two."

"I don't feel it is exactly that." Rafaela said. "I think it's because he's so busy with the band you know, sometimes I am so fed up with it, because he puts us on hold all the time because of the band."

"He doesn't do that, come on... you're being unfair. He tries to divide his time the best he can, you know that Rafi. You're just resented because you want something he doesn't want now. He didn't say no forever, he asked you to wait a bit more."

"It hurts me, that's just it." Then Rafaela shrugged. "Well, truth is, there's nothing I can do about it."

"Look... it was hard when you got pregnant with Liam. I don't want to imagine how things would be if your father hasn't helped you. Now his band is a bit stable. He's able to support you guys and I think he wants to settle even more before he puts another kid into this world, so he can be the one providing all for him without anyone's help." Kelly remembered how that made her feel though and for a second she shuddered. They had destroyed her. That pregnancy had destroyed all her hope.

"He is very proud for sure. I remember my father told him he would never be able to support me, though they get along pretty fine now, I know James hasn't forgot that and he wants to prove him wrong. Maybe that's it and he isn't telling me."